Process of manufacturing cork disks and product of the same



' Feb. 15, 1927.

1,61 7,693 E. VINCKE PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING CORK DISKS AND PRODUCT OFTHE SAME Filed Aug. 31, 1925 awww fNVI-ZNTOR, WCL/l Patented .Feb. 15,1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ENRIQUE VINCKE, OF BARCELONA, SPAIN, ASSIGNOR TO MANUFACTUBAS DE COBCHO,S. A., OF BARCELONA, SPAIN.

PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING CORK DISKS AND PRODUCT OF THE SAME.

' Application filed Augiist 31, 1923. Serial no. 660,388.

This invention relates to an improved process of manufacturing corkseals and the product of the same- It is well recognized that allpresent day processes of making corkdisks from cork 'bark in commercialquantities give rise to a high percentage of cork disks which are unfitfor sealing purposes by reason of the I pores in the disks. Irrespectiveof the method of cuttin cork bark, even of, the highest quality, thisserious difliculty has not been obviated.

It is also well recognized that by reason of the pores in the cork disksof crown seals and similar closures, the contents of the bottles isbrought in contact with the tinned cap as well as with the cork therebyleading, to contamination and the imparting of a cork and a metal flavorto the contents, and often giving rise to dangerous conditions tohealth, as well as loss of the contents due to consequent leakage.Efl'orts' have been made to overcome the defects due to the pores, byparaflining the cork disks, also by inserting paraflin paper or othercollet between the cork disk and the metal shell or by providing acovering of metal foil or plate on the portion of the face of the corkdisk otherwise exposed within the mouth of the bottle to contact withthe contents.

It has also been proposed to form the sealing disk of composition corkby granulating the cork and binding the granules together by means of asuitable waterproof glue; however, such composition cork disks aresubject to eventual penetration by the contents of the bottle, wherebythe glue as well as the cork particles and even the metal cap arebrought into contact with the contents of the bottle thereby creatingthe said highly undesirable conditionsand consequent leaktw Theheretofore practices of providing a covering of metal over the wholeface of the cork disk has proven to be im racticable, largely by reasonof the unavoi able sharp edges at the mouth of the bottle, inherent inthe blowing method of bottle manufacture,

causing the metal foil to bepierced, and

sameobjectionable results as in the case of t e mped s? eerk disk; inthis ne thereby afiording contact between the cona tents of the bottleand the cork and as well. with the'metal cap, andbringin'g aboutthethedeterioration of the cork disk causes the additional disadvantage of theloosening and dropping of the foil into, the bottle. The metal foilprocedure also embodiesthe serious condition of the practicalimpossibility of applying the metal foil without a wrinkle in the metalfoil, and thereby rendering the seal between the metal foil and the neckof the bottle imperfect. In the effort to overcome this defect, it hasbeen proposed to glue a metal disk of a smaller diameter on the exposedface of the cork disk with the object of providing the actual sealbetween the lip of the bottle directly with the cork disk, but thisprocedure is impracticable commercially by reason of the varying contourand dimensions of the lip and mouth of the bottle, giving rise tocontact by the contents of the bottle withthe glue, introducing furthercontamination and causing the metal disk to drop. Such procedure alsonecessarily involves greater expense of manufacture.

It has been further proposed to secure such metal disk or a thin sheetof metal to the cork disk by crimping it centrally into the face of thecork disk, but such procedure is not practicable by reason of thecrimping giving rise to the cork disk to be punctured and resulting inan effectual opening through;the cork. This procedure also introducesthe defect of the metal disk being mechanically loosened and dropped,incident to shufiling and jarring encountered by the closure, in thecrowning machine and in shi ment and subsequent use.

11 such prior methods have sought to overcome the above enumerateddefects by seeking to prevent the contents of the bottle from coming incontact with the disk of natural or composition cork and none of suchheretofore proposed methods has made possible the use of the poorerqualities of natural cork disks resulting in the manufacturing rocess.

A principal object of my invention is to provide a product whichovercomes all the defects of prior cork seals and an economical. I

process for forming such product by utilize ing not only the selectedgood disks cut from natural cork bark,- but also the lower qualities ofcork disks from natural cork bark which; heretofore have had to'bediscarded.

,It is also an object of this invention to provide an'improved seal ofthe character described which will not only be of superior structuralcharacteristics when formed of the usual materials, but which willenable the use of materials which hitherto have been unavailable for usein this class of seals.

A further object of my invention is to provide a construction of sealwhereby even composition cork may be used for obtaining a perfect seal.

Pursuant to my invention, the cork disk is formed of two elements, oneelement being of a disk shape and of a diameter cor respondingsubstantially to the inner diameter of the mouth of the bottle, theother cork element being of an annulus shape, the outer diameter ofwhich is equal to the inner diameter of the metal cap while the innerdiameter corresponds substantially to that of the disk element to effecta snug fit.

Combined with such cork disk and cork annulus is a coating of foil oftin or aluminum or their alloys, metallized paper, or similar material,the central portion of which is scored or bent on itself to form a cupof sufficient diameter to snugly fit the cork disk and the cork. Theaforesaid parts are combined within a crown closure by 10- eating thecentral cup portion of the metal foil as a covering on the forward faceof the cork disk otherwise exposed to the contents of the bottle and theperipheral portion of the foil is brought between the rearward face ofthe annulus and the inner face of the metal shell. In my seal, solelythe annulus is brought into contact with the lip of the bottle, whilethe central portion of the metal foil solely is in contact with thebottle contents. It is proposed to use cork as will be herelnafterexplained in the preferred form of seal disclosed herein as a suitablematerial, but it is to be understood that either natural cork orcomposition cork or equivalent substitutes are comprehended within thisterm and that it is proposed to use either or both in carr ing out theinvention.

F urt ler features 'and other forms of my invention will be more fullyunderstood from the following detail description and the accompanyingdrawings in which Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective View showing oneform of a crown closure embodying my invention, and comprising anannulus of cork, a cork disk and a foilcovering extending over theforward face of the disk, then between the lateral face of the disk andthe inner face of the annulus and extending over the rearward face ofthe annulus, the aforesaid being assembled within the crown shell andmutually held in assembled use of an adhesive;

position, with or without the- Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view ofanother form of my invention, and comprising a forward disk of cork of adiameter corresponding approximately to the inner diameter of the mouthof the bottle; a rearward disk of cork of larger diameter andcorresponding to the interior of the crown shell; an annulus of corkhaving its outer diameter corresponding approximately to the interior dlameter of the crown shell and its inner diameter to provide a snug fitwith the smaller disk, and foil of metal extending forwardly over theforward face of the smaller disk, between the rearward face of theannulus and the forward face of the larger disk; and

Fig. 4 is a side elevation, indicating a bottle sealed by a closureformed of the parts illustrated in Fig. 3.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the shell 1 is of the usual crown formationand dimen sions. The annulus 2 of cork has an outer diameter conformingto the diameter of the metal shell. The width of the cork annulus 2 issufficient to provide ample area for effectual sealing with the mouth 5of a crown bottle 6.

Within the cork annulus 2 is disposed the cork disk ,7 of a diametercorresponding approximately to the inner diameter of the mouth of thebottle 6. As a covering for the frontal face 8 of the cork disk 7 isprovided the metal foil 9;, extending thence between the peripheral face10, of the cork disk 7 and the inner peripheral face 11 of the corkannulus 2, and the peripheral portion 12 of the metal foil extendsrearwardlyof the cork annulus 2. In the assembling of the aforesaidelements of my closure, the metal foil 9 is scored or bent, see 13, uponitself circularly about its central portion corresponding substantiallyto the inner diameter of the mouth of the bottle. The cork disk 7 islocated within the metal foil 9 and upon assembling the same togetherwith the cork annulus 2 within the metal shell 1, with or without theuse of adhesive at the desired intercontacting locations, the peripheralportion 12 of the metal foil 9 is anchored between the rearward face ofthe cork annulus 2- and the inner face 15of the metalshell 1.

The parts of the foresaid sealing member may be assembled as a unitprior to insertion within the crown shell or equivalent, or the bottlecap assembling machine may be employed and the individual elements of mysealing means inserted successively within the crown shell and in properco-origi-nated relation to one another as aforesaid.

--.In the form of the invention shown in Figs. 3 and 4, a large corkdisk 20 has an outer diameter conforming substantially to the diameterof the metal shell 1. Forwardly of the disk 20 is a'smaller cork disk 21having a diameter conforming approximately lltl 60 a crown bottle, thecontact between the lip to the inner diameter of the mouth of a crownbottle 6. The cork annulus 22 has an outer diameter at its peripheralface 23 conforming substantially to the outer diameter of the aforesaidlarger cork disk and an inner diameter at its circular face 24 to snuglyfit over the smaller disk 21. The foil 25 of metal correspondssubstantiall to the foil 9 of the aforesaid form shown in Figs. 1 and 2,and accordingly is bent or scored, see 26, on itself circularly aboutthe centre, conforming substantially to the diameter of the smaller disk21. The circular or central portion 26 of the foil 25 serves as acovering for the smaller disk 21 and the intermediate portion 27 of thefoil 25 is anchored between the peripheral face 28 of the smaller disk21 and the inner face 24 of the annulus 22.

Upon assembling the aforesaid parts within a crown shell 1, with orwithout va suitable adhesive between the intercontacting faces, theperipheral portion 29 of the foil 25 is located between the rearwardface 30 r of the annulus 22, and the forward face 31 of the larger disk20.

The sealing means comprising the large disk 20, the smaller disk 21, theannulus 22 and the foil 25 may be assembled as a unit prior topositioning within the crown shell, orthe aforesaid parts may beassembled successively in proper order within the crown shell by the useof a regulation bottle cap cess of cork disks.

assembling machine.

The form of m invention illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, utllizes corkdisks of lower grade as well as cork disks of the higher grades cut fromnatural cork bark. A particularly advantageous procedure is to cut thecork bark into disks of the same diameter, namely that of the largerdisk 20. The thickness of these disks is referably subztantially onehalfof that of the regulation The disks so obtained are sorted into alower quality and into a good quality, and the latter are punchedcentrally about a diameter corresponding substantially to that of thesmaller disk 21 and thereby also yielding annular rings having the formof the annulus 22. I

The disks of lower quality which heretofore were not possibly of use toobtain a perfect seal, are utilized by my invention as the rearward orlarge disks and I thereby make it possible to economically use all thegrades of disks obtained in the manufacturing pro- Pursuant to theaforesaid forms of my invention upon positioning the crownseal on of thebottle is effected with the cork of good quality and at the same timethe metal foil is solely brou ht i-n eifectualcontact with the contents0 the bottle.

If desired, and to economize in the use of the foil, it is not necessarythat the tinfoil tion of the metal foil may extend cyond that indicatedhereinabove, namely, to project between the outer face of the annulusand the crimping flange of the crown cap.

In certain circumstances it may be desirable to form the annulus elementof my closure of composition cork and the remaining cork elements maalso be formed of composition cork or of a combination of natural corkbark and of composition cork.

My invention also provides for the use of multiple disks in the formingof the central disks and also of the annulus, as relates to the formshown in Figs. 1 and 2, and also to the larger cork disks as well assmaller disks and the annulus as relates to the form shown in Figs. 3and 4.

In the form of the invention shown in Figs. 3 and 4 the smaller disk 21may be cut of natural cork integrally with the larger disk 20 or thecentral disk 21 and the larger disk 20 formed integrally of compositloncork. Also, the peripheral face28 of such integral disk portion 21 maybeforined with I a re-entrant anglewith the plane of the major portionof the larger disk 20, to thereby form a joint in the nature of a tongueand groove connection between the disk portion 21 and the portion 27 ofthe foil 25 and the inner face 24 of the annulus 22.

The smaller disk may be formed of paper of like plastic and neutralmaterial.

Whereas, I have described my invention by reference to specific formsthereof, it will be understood that many changes and modifications maybe made without departing 5 from the spirit of the invention, as definedby the appended claims.

I claim: I

1. A bottle closureformed of an annulus of cork, a disk of cork materialdisposed within said annulus, and-a covering of metal foil extendingover the forward face of said disk and between said disk and saidannulus.

2. A bottle closure formed of an annulus of cork, a disk ,of corkmaterial disposed within said annulus, said disk having a diametersubstantially equal to the inner diameter of the mouth of the bottleintended to be closed by the closure, and a covering of metal foilextending over the forward face of said disk and between said disk andsaid annulus; 3. A closure for .bottles comprising an annulus of corkmaterial, a disk of cork mate- 'rial located within said annulus, acovering of metal extending forwardly of the forward face of said diskand between said disk and said annulus and a larger disk disposedrearwardly of said annulus and of the aforesaid disk.

4. Aclosure for bottles comprising an an nulus of cork material, a diskof cork material located within said annulus, said disk having adiameter substantially equal to the inner diameter of the mouth of thebottle intended to be closed by the closure, a covermg of metalextending forwardly of the forward face of said disk and between saiddisk and said annulus and a larger disk disposed rearwardly of saidannulus and of the aforesaid disk.

5. A closure comprising an annulus of cork material, a disk disposedwithin said annulus, and a metal foil covering the forward face of thecork disk passing thence be tween said annulus and said cork disk andextending over the rearward face of said annulus.

6. A closure comprising an annulus of cork material, a disk disposedwithin said annulus, said disk having a diameter substantially equal tothe inner diameter of the mouth of the bottle to be closed by theclosure, and a metal foil covering the forward face of said cork disk,passing thence between said annulus and said cork disk and extendingover the rearward face of said annulus.

7. The process of forming closures from cork bark, which comprisesforming disks of uniform diameter corresponding substantially to themaximum diameter of the seal of the closure, separating the disks of oodquality from the disks of poorer qua ity, punching a disk of goodquality to form a disk of relatively reduced diameter, and a,corresponding annulus, assembling a disk of poor quality, the annulus ofgood quality and a disk of reduced diameter combined with a metal foilto dispose the disk of re duced diameter centrally within the annulus,and to dispose the metal foil to extend over the forward face of thedisk of reduceddiameter and the rearward face of the annulus.

8. The process of forming closures from cork bark, which comprisesforming disks of uniform diameter corresponding substantially to themaximum diameter of the seal of the closure, separating the disks ofgood quality from the disks of poorer quality punching a disk of goodquality to form a disk having a reduced diameter correspondingsubstantially to the inner diameter of the mouth of the bottle to beclosed by the closure and a corresponding annulus,'assembling a disk ofpoorer quality, an annulus of good quality and a disk of reduceddiameter within the annulus and to dispose the,

metal foil to extend over the forward face of the disk of reduceddiameter and the rearward face of the annulus.

9. The process of manufacturing closures, which comprises forming anannulus of natural cork of good quality or of composition cork, formingseparately a disk of smaller diameter and a disk of larger diameter ofnatural cork independently of its quality or from composition cork andassembling a metal foil to extend over the forward face of the disk ofsmaller diameter and the rearward face of the annulus.

10. The process of manufacturing closures, which comprises forming fromnatural cork bark independently of its quality or from composition cork,a cork element constituted of disk formation of larger diameter and adisk formation of smaller diameter of one piece, forming an annulus ofnatural cork of good quality or of composition cork, and assembling ametal foil to extend over the forward face of a disk formation ofsmaller diameter and the rearward face of the annulus.

11. A bottle closure formed of an annulus of natural cork, a disk ofcomposition cork disposed within said annulus, and a covering of metalfoil extending over the forward face of said disk and between said diskand said annulus.

12. A bottle closure formed of an annulus of composition cork, a diskdisposed within said annulus, and a covering of metal foil extendingover the forward face of said disk and between said disk and saidannulus.

13. A bottle closure formed of an annulus of composition cork, a disk ofcomposition cork disposed within said annulus, and a covering of metalfoil extending over the forward face of said disk and between said diskand said annulus.

14. A closure for bottles comprising an annulus of cork material, a disklocated within said annulus, a covering of metal extending forwardly ofthe forward face of said disk and between said disk and said annulus anda larger disk of composition cork disposed rearwardly of said annulusand of the aforesaid disk.

15. A closure for bottles and the like com prising a cup-shaped memberof neutral material, a disk member enclosed within said cup-shapedmember, the cup portion of said cup-shaped member being disposedexteriorly of said disk member and on an exposed surface of the closure,and an annular member of natural cork snugly fitting said disk member.16. A closure for bottles and the like comprising a cup-shaped member ofneutral material, adisk member enclosed within said cup-shaped member,the cup portion of said cup-shaped member being disposed exteriorly ofsaid disk member and on an exposed surface of the closure, and anannular member of composition cork snugly fitting said disk member.

17. A closure for bottles and the like comprising a cup-shaped member ofneutral material, a disk member of natural or composition cork enclosedWithin said cup-shaped member, the cup portion of said cup-shaped memberbeing disposed exteriorly of said disk member and on an exposed surfaceof the closure, and an annular member of natural cork snugly laterallyfitting said disk member.

18. A closure for bottles and the like comprising a cup-shaped member ofneutral material, a disk member of natural or composition cork enclosedwithin said cup-shaped member, the cup portion of said cup-shaped memberbeing dlsposed exteriorly of said disk member and on an exposed surfaceof the closure, and an annular member of composition cork snuglylaterally fitting said disk member.

19. A seal for bottle closures formed of a pair of superposedco-extension cork disks, one of good quality and one of poor quality,said disk of good quality comprising an annulus and a smaller diskdisposed therein, and acoveringv of impervious sheeted materialextending over the exposed face of the smaller disk, upwardly betweensaid disk 20. A seal for bottle closures formed of a.

pair of superposed co-extensive cork disks, one of good quality and oneof poor quality, said disk of good quality comprisin an annulus and asmaller disk having a iameter substantially equal to the inner diameterof the opening to be closed and a covering of metal foil extending overthe exposed face of the smaller disk, upwardly between said disk andannulus, and outwardly between said annulus and said disk of poorquality.

21. A bottle closure formed of an annulus of cork, a disk disposedWithin said annulus, and a covering of impervious sheeted materialextending over the forward face of said disk and between said disk andannulus.

22. A closure for bottles comprising an annulus of cork material, a disklocated within said annulus, a covering of impervious 'sheeted materialextending over the exposed face of said disk and between said disk andannulus, and a larger disk disposed rearwardly of said annulus and theaforesaid disk.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification this 29th day ofAugust 1923.

ENRIQUE VINCKE.

